


Pascal's Triangle Revised

by WowSoBoring



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25068421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WowSoBoring/pseuds/WowSoBoring
Summary: Jeff has to choose between Britta and Slater. Annie decides not to go with Vaughn but this time, it's not Jeff who's the only one there to discover this on the quad.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Abed Nadir
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51





	1. Pascal's Triangle Revised

**Author's Note:**

> I really like Jeff and I ship Annie/Abed but I usually go for Jeff not being portrayed as an antagonist (an obstacle/romantic rival is cool but not when he becomes this villain who gets in the way). The cool thing here is that there was no Jeff and Annie in the first place. Also it's not 100% Annie/Abed centralized throughout the whole thing. The first POV is Pierce just for the heck of it ;)
> 
> This chapter may resemble my previous work, "Group Dynamics Revisited" in some cases.

**_PIERCE_ **

Pierce was happy. He finally got rid of his jealousy for the whole gay thing Troy and Aybed had been going through. Apparently Brittles was going through some sort of love crisis and Jeff was going through two gorgeous hotties being all over him. Pshaw, GAY! Pierce remembered back when he was super cool and was in like orgies with five hot gals at the same time. Ah damn it, that never happened and it won't happen now of all times when he was old. Doreen leaving him like that was sort of his wake up call. Pierce was just happy to be part of the study group. They were pretty cool. Annie, especially was a nice dearie. He was kind of sad when she left with that hippie jagoff GDB Vince or something. Vince was probably struggling with his gay band after Pierce left and he had no cool keyboardists. Well people always move on, he guessed and continued with his beer while Troy was having a giant cookie of sorts and what have you. Aybed wasn't even there for some reason, maybe parties were offensive or something for him.

He felt happy while singing the school song. That was very gifting for him. He felt very recognized because of the school song, he didn't understand why Jeff, Aybed and everyone else looked at him in that weird way whenever he sung it. Probably just jealous. After that, he was in a bit of a daze. He offered Troy a room at the Hawthorne Manor. Everything was cool. Streets ahead. Then there was some element of drama as Aybed would've called it.

> _"Jeff Winger, do not get back with Slater. I love you."_   
>    
>    
> 

Well, well, well. Nothing as good as two love confessions in one night. Pierce knew what that was like very well. He once went through that when his both his ex-wives showed up at an event he was invited to, inadvertently. It was hard to cope with in every aspect. Pierce easily chose his 5th ex-wife but Jeff was obviously taking forever to answer. Well, both Brittles and Slater were equally hot in different ways and it was a hard decision whereas in his case, Winona was an obvious knockout in comparison to Imelda.

Jeff clumsily walked out like a coward and was nowhere to be found and then walked in two minutes later:

"Britta, I choose you. Well I'm not sure if I want to drop the L Bomb on you right now but with you, I feel like I can be comfortable as who I really am and you were the person I was after all along. I'm sorry, Slater, but you probably shouldn't have randomly dumped me for no reason, I can't deal with that kind of uncertainty. We''d still be together if it weren't for that."

And just like that Slater grumbled, took an appalled Duncan with her and left.

And then five minutes later Annie and Aybed walked in together with Shirley.

Something weird was going on between the two it seemed but he was glad when Annie said she left that nimrod Vince behind, he wasn't going to team up with him to write a song about Annie under any condition.

Whatever.

* * *

_**Annie** _

Annie liked Vaughn a lot. She wasn't sure she was in love with him though. She almost kissed Abed while she was dating Vaughn and was dressing up in professor-esque clothes to impress Jeff also WHILE she was dating Vaughn. Also Delaware? With a guy trying to become a professional hacky sack player? Who always wanted to make excuses to take his shirt off? And the sex was kind of boring too. She started to realize why Britta would like Vaughn's chill, carefree personality. Annie, herself appreciated all the romantic gestures and poems. Even though the poems were very bad, they were written with a good feeling and intention. If a four year old kid makes you a handmade birthday card with terrible drawing and a million of spelling mistakes, you don't call the kid out on anything AT ALL. But she couldn't leave Greendale behind for Delaware. She was going in a direction at Greendale. And how could she live without either of them? Cool Jeff, quirky Abed, Troy the good, different Britta and the ever-so-nice Shirley along with the weirdly obnoxious Pierce who she wouldn't have missed that much but at least Pierce was always sweet to her.

She came back the night she left to Greendale. And she saw Jeff walking around in the quad, sad and confused

> "I thought you left."
> 
> "I couldn't go."
> 
> "What happened?"
> 
> "I guess as we were driving away, I finally started living in the moment, and I realized that, in the moment, Greendale is where I belong. What are you doing out here?"
> 
> "Oh, you know... Britta and Slater told me they loved me."
> 
> "Really?"
> 
> "Yeah."
> 
> "What did you do?"
> 
> "I ran away. I don't know. It's hard. Slater makes me feel like I do when I write my new year's resolutions. She makes me feel like the guy I want to be. And Britta makes me feel like the guy I am three weeks after new year's, when I'm back to hitting my snooze button and screening my mom's phone calls... back to who I really am. So... Do you try to evolve... or do you try to know what you are?"
> 
> "I don't know. I wish I could live two lives. One of me would go with Vaughn, and one of me could stay here."
> 
> "Yeah, one of me could be back with Slater, and the other could try it with Britta. And then we could all get together for some weird foursome."
> 
> "Um, I guess I got to... got to deal with it."
> 
> "Good luck."
> 
> "Um... I'm glad you're staying."
> 
> "So who are you going with?"
> 
> "I guess, Britta"
> 
> "Cool, I think you should go with Britta too, not that it matters what I think."
> 
> "Yeah...", he said trailing off. He smiled at her as he walked away.

Annie didn't like Slater much herself. They looked similar but Slater wanted to act like she was all in control of her life. And what was the deal with her just dumping him for no reason? Like, who does that? She couldn't make up he mind on whether she wanted to go in. She wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with everyone and then explain everything to everyone. She had to, though. She decided to come up with some smart and self explanatory sentences so that everyone didn't keep badgering her.

But then Abed walked out into the quad with a certain sense of uncertainty.

"Annie?"

"Yep"

"You didn't go?"

"Um, I couldn't go. This is where I belong. Not in Delaware. Plus I wasn't sure if I liked Vaughn enough to, you know..." she trailed off.

"Oh, I see"

"Are you okay, Abed?", she said, concerned. He looked sad. His eyes were welled up and it looked like he was using all his will not to let tears put.

"Well, now that you mention it," he said ( his voice cracking ever so slightly), "Courtney broke up with me."

"That girl from pool? Why?"

"I was too weird apparently. When will this stop? When will people stop assuming that something is wrong with me because I quote TV shows or might be autistic? Maybe I just don't understand people like a lot of introverts. Maybe, I'm even autistic but is that my personality trait? Maybe I am able to understand that people are just dating me because I am 'good in bed' or something and are swooning over other men behind my back. Maybe, I have emotions.", he enunciated the word 'emotion' in a sarcastic manner. He still wasn't crying, though.

"God, Abed, I'm so sorry."

"Yep"

"No, really. What can I say? Some people straight up suck. Some people are messed up. I have tried to flirt with many people and have gotten shot down because I'm either too tightly wound or I'm too young and they don't want to hurt me. Gosh, I hate that so much! You know one of the reasons Jeff and Britta were trying to break Vaughn and I up was because of age difference or some crap. Courtney's not worth it, it's as simple as that."

"So who is 'worth it'?"

"I don't know. Someone who recognizes you for your good things. Someone who likes how weird you are and how interesting you make life because of your love for TV. That cop thing you were going for was amazing and I wish I could look at life in a way that was half that fun! And that you don't judge people and try to include everyone in everything and that you have absolutely no selfish motives. That's right, Britta told me you were the person behind reviving Jeff from that weird phase where he rarely showered and had whipped cream for breakfast. That's frickin amazing, Abed! Anyone who treats you the way Courtney treated you doesn't deserve you."

and then it hit Annie about what she had just said. And why she didn't have the guts to look at Abed when all of them were looking at each other as potential romances. And why it wasn't Don Draper Abed but regular Abed who she inadvertently fantasized about. And why she felt that if she did go out with Abed, she wouldn't fantasize about anyone else. Or why she wanted to fucking punch Courtney across her face for probably being the hottest girl Abed made out in campus with. Or why she desperately wanted to know for sure that Britta was "flat butt" and she was the one "Abed wanted to nail". Or why she felt extra aroused now when she remembered that speech Abed made when he said he would change for other people and pointed out the reason why people would be attracted to him and didn't even feel guilty by the fact that she was still dating Vaughn. And why she now wanted to see what Abed meant by 'good in bed'. And why she was subconsciously leaning in so that he'd get the hint and kiss her so that she wouldn't feel she was using him or something (not that she was or would ever).

"So, you mean, someone like you." he said.

"Flat butt was-"

"Britta? Yes."

"So yes, someone like me"

And just like that, before she knew it, they were kissing. It started with a shy peck. And turned into something more passionate and better than anything Annie had ever felt and she probably never wanted this kiss to end. Abed's lips were as soft as silk and velvet combined and they tasted like cinnamon and nutmeg and the way his tongue ran inside her mouth made her want more and more. And his arms around her waist felt so good. And his hair, god, his hair, running her hands through them was a feeling more amazing than anything she felt and god, why did they have to run out of breath?

Before they could do something more, Shirley decided to come out, looking heavenwards.

"Oh An-nie! You didn't go?"

"I didn't want to go to Delaware. I didn't know what I would do without this place."

"Oh great! And may I say, not very wise to go out with that Vaughn guy. It's kind of weird. Now, if you dated someone like Troy or Abed, that'd be much better."

Still in a daze, Annie muttered, "yeah, much better"

Abed cleared his throat and glared at her while Shirley raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, nothing. Just too much going on and I can't keep up."

"Aww, you poor girl. You haven't been gone for too long but too much happened since you've been gone."

"Uh, thanks but people filled me in"

"Well, Annie then come on in," Shirley said, "it'd be amazing for others to know that you're here and then maybe we could avoid the whole, uh,"

"Britta and Jeff engaging in PDA.", Abed supplied.

"Yeah. Exactly. Oh Abed, you look oddly happy after breaking up with Courtney. You seemed to be very upset." she said concerned.

"Well, someone talked me through it", he smiled, looking at Annie who smiled too, but wider. Shirley raised another eyebrow and before she could reach any conclusions, Annie decided to walk in.


	2. Follow up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fast forward to Fall of 2010. Things have been happening and choices have been made.

_**Jeff** _

So this was it, huh? Two attractive girls all over him at a community college where he came to for a legitimate degree so that he could become a lawyer again, you know, earn money, go back to the posh life. He had been insistent on taking blow off classes and just getting done with his time there as soon as possible but then he met those five people and Pierce. Sure, he liked Pierce a bit, Pierce was important as he served as a cautionary tale to Jeff- be too selfish and egotistic and everyone will talk shit about you behind your back and he definitely didn't think that would make him cool. 

He'd certainly grown to respect people more. He couldn't bother to remember the names of the girls he thought were kinda hot but now he tried his best to respect them (maybe just to impress Britta early on but he also did so after when Slater broke up with him for literally no reason and then started flirting with some weird guy. That was so fucking embarrassing, crying on Pierce's shoulder. Well, men need to cry from time to time.)

He finally got to know what it was like, being with Britta, sleeping with her. And he wanted to be the same vain guy who couldn't be bothered with a relationship and just wanted to sleep around and store some souvenirs of the women he slept with. You know, because that made him cool. But recently, he'd learnt a lesson, caring is cool. being considerate is cool and being compassionate is cool too. There's no problems with having friends and treating them like friends. That doesn't make him a lesser human being, that makes him more like Doc Potterywood and that's probably the reason why everybody liked him. But Jeff could still be badass. He could still wear stylish cologne and take care of his hair and wear clothes from Banana Republic and have women 'ooh' and 'aah' in jealousy and admiration while he walked off with Britta. 

Being with Britta wasn't particularly hard, actually. Slater was cool but sometimes he felt like he had to try extra-hard, walk around eggshells, make sure she didn't think he was still into Britta since she'd threatened to break off their relationship fairly frequently. He didn't have to be confined to boyfriend-girlfriend labels with Britta, or buy her flowers, or just give up on whatever argument he's making, or write a poem or partake in some supremely grand romantic gesture. Britta and Jeff were different and that was cool. Britta loved going on and on about whatever cause she believed in but she was kind of used to being shunned and made fun of so he didn't have to be extra attentive or something. Britta was a good kisser though, for sure and that PDA during the Transfer Dance had been somewhat of a PR stunt to show he was as brave as he let on. He found PDA gross like everybody rightly should because that's what PDA is- something that makes both couples and single people cringe and squirm.

And now that that was done and thought of, it was time to get up and go to school. Thursdays were fairly hectic. He had Anthro with Duncan who'd still been insistent on pretending to teach anesthesiology to that girl who'd never be willing to go out with him, followed by Math, Lunch break, English and Pool (with shorts {which was a decision he'd learnt to regret rather than thinking he was being strong. Maybe being naked and covered in sweat and the ego boost from defeating the literal coach had contributed to that terrible decision but now that he'd respected playing pool in shorts in front of everyone, taking that back would just imply that he had a weak persona.} ) and afterwards the study group would just meet up, discuss homework and head on home. Occasionally, Britta would go home with Jeff or Jeff would go home with Britta. They'd have ramen or Abed would graciously give Jeff a movie Abed thinks Britta would like (and Britta always did like the movie).

Abed could literally date anyone, according to Jeff. He could pretend to be an average Joe or Jeff or himself and correctly predict what his significant other would like but would he be willing to even be romantic. He seemed to be grossed out with simple handshakes but he did get a girl like Courtney. Well, he didn't like Courtney much because of the way she randomly dumped Abed and went after some other guy. He cared about Abed because Abed was a good friend and even offered him a roof to stay under and would've been fine with him living there for as long as he liked (and for some reason when he pointed this out to Britta, she snickered but didn't really say anything). Something felt weird though. Different. It didn't take him long to get over Courtney and Annie (who he was glad didn't go with Vaughn "MicroNipples" Miller because that guy was creepy. In his humble opinion, Annie could date someone like Abed or Troy and cross a line at Jeff) was smiling and looking at Abed when he wasn't looking. Insignificant. Maybe some Don Draper Abed flashbacks but something was definitely going on (at least according to Britta)

So he put on a new brown shirt, black trousers, dress shoes and his favorite cologne. He put a little Keristina which he was finally about to be done with but how hard would it be to get a novelty Finnish face cream? and he combed his hair back. He sat inside his car, put his leg on the accelerator and drove to school.

He was amazingly not the last one to emerge at Study Room F that day. Abed and Annie (who were the most punctual members at the study group) emerged 2 minutes afterwards. Obviously, everyone else was also perplexed at Jeff not being the last member to show up. Abed's hair were weirdly ruffled and his lips were shining as if he were wearing some lip gloss while Annie was just smiling at nothing.

"Um, we were, uh, working on one of my movies", Abed supplied

"Yep", Annie confirmed.

Yeah, Abed stuttering and fumbling. Something was definitely up.

"Cool...", Troy finally said with an air of uncertainty in his voice.


	3. Suspicions Confirmed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're in Troy's POV where we see some interesting revelation. Same day as the last chapter.

_**Troy** _

Ever since the Tranny dance, things had been weird between Abed and him. Abed had lesser and lesser time to spend with him and more time than acceptable to film class. Troy was bored nowadays so he decided to start working @OldWhiteManSays again and Pierce was fine with that publicity now that he knew 600,000 people read his thoughts and sayings. He still missed hanging out with Abed. Maybe Abed was still depressed over Courtney. It was really messed up the way she treated him but he looked fine when he came back in with Annie during the Tranny Dance. Ah there was something fishy between Annie and Abed, he'd gotten that after watching so many mystery movies with Abed. Something was up with those weird inside jokes and the way Annie would randomly smile at Abed when he wasn't looking. Weird. Or maybe she was just getting Don Draper flashbacks. But then again, this morning was a little weird and he didn't feel like the only one who was a tad bit curious and suspicious as to what was going on. 

Annie and Abed, being late to school? Abed literally lived in the school and Annie's middle name was Punctuality. And then that weird lip gloss on Abed's lips, that sheepish smile and those ruffled hair. Troy thought he was just wasting his time thinking about something that probably wasn't true. He was supposed to be the slightly dimwitted jock, not some sort of James Bond. No, James Bond was a spy. But then that perplexed and doubtful expression on Jeff and Britta's face was unmistakable so he met Jeff's eyes and Jeff nodded at him, frowning. So Troy wasn't stupid anymore, that was great. 

"So," Jeff continued that smile-frown, "Good morning everybody..."

"Good morning!", Shirley said attempting to break the tension. "What movie are you working on, Abed?"

And then for a fraction of a second, Abed's brow furrowed. He was trying to lie. And Troy knew that look. Abed simply couldn't lie. He didn't perform well under pressure and even if he came up with an excuse, it would be impossible for him to lie to anyone in the study group. He could only go as far as not confirming or denying anything or using some sort of clever way to get out of it but this was an interrogation. Troy knew how bad Abed was at messing with people. Even when Abed was pretending to lose when they were racing during the STD fair, he simply wasn't believable. His monotone voice would rise an octave higher and would look like he was trying to be sarcastic and chuckle a lot while speaking, and sound like,you know, like Jeff.

Annie eyed Abed to convey something along the lines of 'I got this', and this time Troy had to pay attention to detail, maybe this was an opportunity for him to prove that he could be as smart as everyone else, be James Bond. DAMN IT! JAMES BOND IS A SPY! But then again, he had to pay some extra attention. This was his chance to prove himself.

"Um, so, it's a movie about us, like our study group, we haven't really started working on shooting it, we are looking for casting.", Annie supplied.

"You will NOT be doing that Abed! You know that there's no proof that werewolves aren't real?", Shirley said

"Yeah and I don't want that weird old guy playing me. If anyone should play me, it should be me or I'LL KILL YOU!", Pierce roared.

Troy had to restrain Pierce like that time when Jeff's lawyer friend called him bald.

"Ah, you know what, we'll think about working on another movie", Abed said quickly.

Yeah, Abed giving up on a movie, something he's the most passionate about just because Shirley and Pierce disapproved. Funny.

"Since when did you get so much into making movies, Annie?", Britta asked in a very curious tone.

"Um it's fun to work with a friend. It's just a cool thing, I mean I still want to work on getting a degree in hospital administration but movies are kinda fun, you know?" Annie said sketchily.

Yeah okay something was definitely up but it was time for their first class.

* * *

Abed sat next to Troy in Anthropology. If he hadn't it would've been more suspicious according to Troy.

"Hi", Abed greeted.

"Hey man," Troy responded.

"How's it going?"

"It's going great buddy. Listen, you wanna hang out today, watch a movie?"

Abed thought about it for a second and said yes. Okay so Abed was trying to be sneaky. Showing that nothing was up. As a student of human character, Abed would've noticed everybody else's suspicions. Damn it, Troy was smart and people had better be giving him credit for being such a James B-

Sherlock Holmes.

Troy's next class was free since the teacher wasn't doing very well so he decided to look for clues but before he could, his friend from the Modern Dancing popped into the study room. They had a rehearsal on Monday and were running out of time, they needed as much practice as they could get even if everyone couldn't be there. Troy rolled his eyes and went with her to the dance room.

His plan was on hold for now but dancing was more important. AND BADASS!

* * *

"Seriously, what is up with this Annie/Abed thing?", Troy texted Jeff.

"Probably nothing", Jeff texted back.

"C'mon seriously?"

"Look, I was having doubts about them too but it's probably friendship. Annie helped Abed through his break up so now he trusts her more and she's probably having Don Draper flashbacks and you're kinda jealous because you feel like Abed is replacing you"

"Okay, you are way off! ABED CAN'T REPLACE ME! You're gonna be calling be James Bond after I'm proven right and then kick your butt."

"Okay. Are you aware that James Bond is a SPY?"

"Shut up"

And with that Troy angrily slammed his phone shut.

Troy had to be right now. He possibly couldn't be wrong after all this but whatever Jeff said seemed to make more sense as each minute passed. Annie probably consoled Abed and told him what he needed to hear which would've made it happier while Troy was sulking with his giant cookie. The only thing scaring him now was the thought that maybe Abed and Annie were the new Troy and Abed but that couldn't possibly be. Annie would be annoyed as shit if she found out the kind of awesome things they did. Food fights. Water fights. Endless movie marathons and copying answers from the internet. Hitting on librarians. Playing around with masking tape. It would be impossible plus they were hanging out today. He could reassure himself and maybe even get something out of Abed right then.

The bell rang for lunch time.

* * *

Ah, lunch was okay. Mac and Cheese. Troy actually liked Mac and Cheese but he didn't particularly like the cheese the cafeteria of Greendale used but it was still okay. He paid for a cookie and sat with the group for lunch. They ate and talked.

"Well, basket weaving was fun today, wasn't it An-nie?", S

"Yeah, I got a gold star!", Annie beamed.

"Well, then, you'd like to know that Britta also did very well in the painting class today?", Jeff said.

"Really?", Annie asked.

"No, ding dong! She literally splattered acrylic paint all across her clothes, can't you see?", Jeff snickered.

"Classic lesbian", Pierce muttered.

"How?", Britta asked, clearly triggered by the homophobic remark.

"So, Britta, you painted your clothes, huh? Pretty innovative", Troy remarked.

"Shut up! You know, let's change the topic. How was film class, Abed?"

"Film class was great. We learned about how Alfred Hitchcock made his film and the rule of thirds technique. I've been thinking of another film idea and I would really like to film a documentary."

"That's amazing, Abed. So what is this documentary going to be about?"

"Artists of today's time seems like a good theme since there are so many art classes in Greendale. Maybe, you'd like to show your gracefully painted shirt and share your painting technique...", Abed said.

Britta turned red. "Even you, Abed! You know what, you guys suck. I'll be there to record whenever you commit a slip up and then rub it your face!", she said, her face scrunched up in a frown, as she looked at everyone.

"Okay, cool, fine by me.", Jeff muttered.

The group ate in silence. Annie and Abed finished their food as fast as possible.

"Well, since you guys didn't like Abed's movie idea today morning, we have to dismiss the actors", Annie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I have a feeling Abed's documentary will be much better", Troy snickered.

"Yeah, so, Abed and I have to give the news to fake Troy and Pierce and need I say, they are as terrible sports as they are actors."

"Ahh", Troy shuddered. He'd finally given up on the whole Annie and Abed thing. "Fake Troy was terrible."

"I've never seen worse rappers in my life", Abed confided.

"Okay, we should go now." Annie said.

Still weird how Abed just let Annie do all the talking. 

* * *

They finished the lunch in the next 10 minutes and decided to walk to the study room, you know, like everyday.

Troy was on his phone, tweeting whatever weird stuff Pierce was saying. He didn't have to hide himself. He vaguely looked ahead while walking but his eyes were glued to the phone. Pierce said something about Asian people as Troy and the others walked in the study room. And he almost got through the tweet when--

"What the fuck?"

Jeff's voice distracted him to look up.

Annie and Abed had separated from each other. Red lipstick was all across Abed's mouth and um, his fly was half open.


	4. Backing up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Abed's POV  
> warning- kinda long chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing from Abed's POV is really hard lol. I hope I at least did mediocre.
> 
> I told my mom about this fanfic stuff I was doing and she was oddly supportive so yay.

_**Abed** _

_During the Transfer Dance_

And that was it.

He was weird.

A weird kid.

A weird kid who might have some disorder he might want to look up. Who might be autistic or who knows what. From what he knew, he wasn't really diagnosed with anything. He had taken various tests as a child. Gotten annoyed. Hated it. He absolutely loathed being put under inspection but he decided not to have any emotional outbursts or seek any attention. Nor did he think that being autistic (if he was) in any way made him unlikable. So many celebrities on the autism spectrum who are widely recognized. He didn't need any help. He just needed people to accept him the way he accepted everyone. At least, that's what his mom told him, "you're gonna get what you give". He was at a point in life where he thought things were going great. He had a best friend, 5 other friends, a film class and even a girlfriend. He lived on his own in the dorms of Greendale and tried to earn as much money as he could so that he'd rely on himself. He faced whatever racist stuff Pierce used to say to him. He tolerated being called a 30 year old virgin when he was a 25 year old not virgin. He tolerated being yelled at by a cute girl for doing some sort of psych experiment where he had to sit in a room for 26 hours doing absolutely nothing when he was going to watch Indiana Jones by himself and have good fun.

Eventually everyone snaps. Anyone. You could be Zeus's son but the pressure of being an invincible hero you got from being Zeus's son and be absolutely perfect will make you snap and do rash things. Abed always wondered when he'd hit his breaking point and what it would be that would make him reach there. 26 hours doing nothing except watching everyone go crazy and snap didn't do the thing. Maybe this was it but for some reason it didn't even feel like he'd reached even halfway toward his breaking point. He was hurt but he'd been hurt many times. He just never let it show. He never cried or screamed or yell despite being provoked. He didn't need that kind of attention. He liked his icy and aloof exterior. It was adequate. It was ample. It was just fine. That's what he was going for and then he reached there too.

He tried to fit in though because he was still a human. Ask anyone, humans are social creatures. They can't live without social connections because that's simply not how they function. It's a sad truth to learn especially for introverts. That whole chicken nugget episode was an important character moment for Abed to realize that control didn't make you fit in. It made you feel like you fit in but it just made people blindly follow you because you were insecure deep inside yourself. Everybody seemed to struggle fitting in because looks weren't it. If looks were it, Abed could easily wear a shirt and trousers with sunglasses and talk in an octave lower than his original voice and he'd have drinking buddies and one night stands and Jeff won't see his value, Jeff would either be jealous of him or be his best friend because of their similarities **but** Abed wasn't a fake. He liked doing impressions but he was who he was. Content with a small amount, wearing a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, watching TV and just being socially awkward. That was his shtick. 

Courtney broke up with him because he was weird. No other reason. Well, whatever. He'd run the scenarios already and he saw he was never going to get married. He was stupid to think that that could change. He was just hurt then and there. He didn't cry or yell or tell Shirley exactly how hurt he was so that she would encourage him to destroy all of Courtney's belongings. There was that sadness lingering in his eyes that conveyed enough. Things seemed to be fine before that. Troy had realized his friendship with him was like a giant cookie which was an amazing analogy. He believed in Troy. If someone could learn a lesson from a cookie, that person would be going somewhere ahead in life. Then Courtney wanted to speak to him in private and simply ended it. Yeah that was probably it.

~*~

_ After the Transfer Dance _

What had happened and how it happened, he had no idea. It was sudden and different and he didn't see this coming. This was never a scenario. And for some reason that made him happier. Finding out that Annie hadn't gone to Delaware simply made him happy (as a friend). He would've missed her greatly. She was one of the coolest and nicest people he'd met and with that, she was very pretty that it became impossible not to develop a minute crush on her. He never knew how Pierce knew he had a crush on one of the girls with his "flat-butt" and "the one Ay-bed wants to nail". Maybe being old did make him a genius or maybe he was just throwing wild guesses. Remembering about the Don Draper incident didn't make him happier ever, though, because he simply wasn't Don Draper. He was Abed. He was not this alpha male with a low voice who constantly slept with other women. For the record, Abed didn't respect anyone that cheated in a relationship. Annie was attracted to him as Don Draper, not him as himself. But then Courtney, a very beautiful and attractive lady, was attracted to Abed for who he was. 

And as Annie kept reassuring him about how great a guy he was and how Courtney wasn't worth it and how someone who recognized his true worth was instead worth it he realized that maybe she was worth it. Maybe she was a keeper. Her personality resembled his, maybe she could work a bit on her patience level but they were both competitive and organized and logical and smart and got good grades and wanted to fit in. The more he could think about himself and Annie in the span of a minute, he tried to and he only achieved positive results. And then looking up he saw that she was staring at him right in his eyes, a mix of emotions showing in her eyes, her cheeks turned red and it looked like she was trying to do a kiss lean.

And so he asked, "so you mean someone like you?"

She didn't answer at first. Instead she rectified who "flat butt" and "the one Ay-bed wants to nail" were and he gave the right response. Not socially or romantically but literally.

"So yes, someone like me.", Annie confirmed, mid lean.

So Abed did what any human being would do. He complied with the kiss lean and kissed her. It felt good. He felt electricity jolting through his body. If his cheeks could change color, they'd be crimson and Abed had never felt this way after kissing any of his previous nine love interests.

~*~

_After the K-I-S-S-I-N-G_

So Shirley was onto something but Annie distracted her. Abed himself wasn't sure about whether or not this should be a secret or if this was going to progress but knowing Annie's character, she likely wasn't going to get over something like this so easily. She seemed to be hung up on Jeff after that kiss in the debate competition. In the first few months when she was obviously interested in Troy, every time he shook her hand or playfully had any physical contact with her, her cheeks'd turn bright red.

"Okay Greendale. This has been a wonderful dance," the Dean said, winking toward the Dalmatians. "Unfortunately it's 9 pm and all good things must come to an end so if you all could just leave right now before the school board kills me, that would be great", he said chuckling nervously. 

"Oh great.", Annie muttered "I don't have my car, how will I ever go home."

"I could take you" Britta offered, "but I have to catch something so we might need to hurry..."

"Oh thanks, Britta!" Annie exclaimed but then her eyes met Abed and conveyed dissatisfaction.

And so she took off and slowly everyone left so Abed descended to his dorm.

and his phone beeped

"So, what do you want to do? I don't think I can really forget this.", he received a text from Annie which made his eyes brighten up.

"Neither can I.", he texted her back.

"So, um, you wanna go out sometime?"

"Sure, we could catch a movie. You could choose."

"That sounds great. So you wanna tell the others?"

"How about we tease them and let them find out themselves? Troy might feel useful and this might boost his low self esteem about his intelligence."

"Aww, you care so much about Troy!", she texted him.

"Yeah, he's a great friend."

so that was sorted.

~*~

**_the Thursday after the semester break_ **

Today was the day Abed and Annie deemed fit to reveal their relationship. They had been dating since late May and they thought that at this point, they'd gotten over the thrill of a secret relationship and also they weren't like most people who needed to have a secret relationship to have fun. So they decided to deem today as the revelation day. The study group would walk in on them making out after leading all of them on. Annie decided she'd randomly blush while staring at Abed and make up terrible lies because Abed was still a terrible liar and Annie was nice enough to not make Abed break his code since she wasn't such a fan of lying but she could at least try doing it unlike Abed.

And so Annie made up some weird movie which Shirley and Pierce didn't quite like and he just dropped the idea which made Troy, Britta and Jeff stare at each other with widened eyes. Troy noted something down in the notepad and asked Abed if he wanted to hang out with him. Abed said yes because he obviously wanted to hang out with Troy and couldn't simply understand why Troy was frowning as if he were examining something after Abed said yes to hanging out.

Then Annie and he continued with the weird blushing and eye contact. And then they went to the study room exactly five minutes before lunch time was over.

Things moved in a daze. 2 minutes before the study group meeting they decided it would be a good time to start making out and lo and behold, the study group was there probably expecting an explanation.


End file.
